I haven’t watched the entire interview, but in the article you linked, all of the quotes from Bukele here seem to be referring to whether he has the power to unilaterally cause Garcia to end up in the United States, not whether he has the power to cause him to be released from prison.
“The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele, seated alongside Trump, told reporters in the Oval Office Monday. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Agreed. I’d also add that, while it would be acceptable at least for someone in the US Administration to simply state that El Salvador’s administration did refuse to release Garcia (instead of, for example, demanding that such evidence can only come from Bukele himself), this hasn’t actually happened. No one will even go on the record as saying that they tried asking, or were aware of efforts to make this ask.
I haven’t watched the entire interview, but in the article you linked, all of the quotes from Bukele here seem to be referring to whether he has the power to unilaterally cause Garcia to end up in the United States, not whether he has the power to cause him to be released from prison.
Agreed. I’d also add that, while it would be acceptable at least for someone in the US Administration to simply state that El Salvador’s administration did refuse to release Garcia (instead of, for example, demanding that such evidence can only come from Bukele himself), this hasn’t actually happened. No one will even go on the record as saying that they tried asking, or were aware of efforts to make this ask.